Obama to Call GOP Budget ‘Social Darwinism’

President Barack Obama on Tuesday will call the Republican budget “thinly veiled Social Darwinism” as he attempts to sharpen differences between his economic vision and the Republican Party’s ahead of what is expected to be a contentious re-election battle.

President Obama, in a speech before reporters and editors at luncheon hosted by the Associated Press, will call the plan unveiled by Republicans a “Trojan Horse” that is “disguised as a deficit plan.”

“It’s antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility for everyone who’s willing to work for it,” the president will say, according to excerpts of his remarks released by the White House.

The president’s own budget plan and economic vision have been under intense fire recently, particularly on the campaign trail, where Republican presidential hopefuls frequently accuse him of saddling the country with unnecessary debt that slows growth. His remarks can be seen as an attempt to push back against some of that criticism.

Administration officials pitched the speech as a follow up to remarks the president gave in December in Osawatomie, Kan. There, the president adopted a partisan and populist tone, saying it’s “inexcusable” that some people can’t get into the middle class and blaming Republicans for enabling irresponsibility with loose regulations.

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